The Time of the Dark

Back in the early 1980s, I walked into a bookstore and fell in love with a cover. It showed a wizard, seated at what looked like a kitchen table, with a staff in one hand and a beer can in another with a bag of potato chips at his feet. I immediately bought the novel, this very book. I read it and loved it as it featured a strong, capable female character. Gil Patterson was a scholar who was drawn into another world and made a place for herself.

Of course, the story is far more than that. The Dark is feeding on the other world's people and must be kept from entering our mundane world. And there is Rudy, also from the mundane world who gets taken into Darwith. There is darkness and horror -- this nearly qualifies as dark fantasy. There show more are politics and religion. The characters grow and change.

I was worried that my decades-old memories wouldn't live up to today's reading. I am so glad that I still love this book. On to the next one!

Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys well-written fantasy. show less

Time of the Dark is my first Hambly novel, and I'm not disappointed. While certainly of its time in some ways, culturally in that our main characters are coming from 1980s america and in terms of genre writing styles and tropes since its *written* in 1980s America, its engaging and interesting. Its also an overlooked seminal work in a lot of ways.
While certainly embracing the Tolkien school of fantasy at the time (our mysterious and kindly wizard, our kings and princesses, our heroes and their journey from average folk), its also pioneering a lot of what current readers would see as trending tropes. Its what we could call a 'portal fantasy' nowadays, with our protagonists pulled from their world of 1980s America into a parallel fantasy show more world where they eventually integrate and adopt roles as wizards and warriors to help fight an existential and implacable society ending enemy, The Dark. Its also, in tone, likely an early precursor to what we might call 'grimdark fantasy' now, though with less of the detailed combat than one would expect in current iterations. Hambly's background and chops as a horror author contribute to that tone somewhat, and are clearly evident here with the Dark being a school of lovecraft if not actually lovecraftian enemy.
This left me looking forward to reading the rest of the Darwath books, as well as Hambly's other novels. show less

Excellent alternate world fantasy. I'm not sure where first came across this as a title, but I eventually bought the book as part of the Humble Bundle sale, and it was remarkably good, by far the best in the selection.

Gil is a history student writing up her thesis, She suffers from a few particularly vivid dreams of the same strange medieveleske location where a castle's inhabitants are preparing to fight some mysterious enemy emanating from the depths, but the dreams are interspersed over several weeks and she thinks nothing of it particularly. One evening however she discover the old man form her dreams in her kitchen. He needs a safe location for an infant - just for a night - before he can travel back across 'The Void' to his show more dreamworld. The transition is taxing and the old man would spare the infant too much exposure. He knows of Gil from the dreams and beseeches her aid. Gil as it happens knows of an old cabin that would be ideal location away from the intrusions of her world.

She is not the only person aware of that cabin though. Ruby is a lowlife artist - not quite a biker gang member, but of that ilk. He happens to be there as the old man arrives from across the void. he can scarcely believe his eyes and refuses to accept that the man could be a wizard. But being basically good natured, and experienced with kids, is happy to assist in return for some food. He is not happy at the prospect of leaving a baby with a clearly delusional old man. However he doesn't get much chance to argue the situation because suddenly one of the Dark has followed the wizard across and all of them are pitched back across the Void into the 'other' world - it being imperative that the Dark do not discover how unaware earth is. Gil and Rudy's only concern is to get back to earth which the wizard Ingold assures them he'll be able to do again very soon. Before that happens though, the Dark attack again en mass, and Gil and Rudy's world views are changed forever.

The writing is excellent, descriptive and immersive with a well developed world that can stand on it's own - rather than as is too often the case, only existing for the heroes to pass through it. the characters are also great, with distinct personalities even for most of the supporting characters. There are no stereotypes or crude generalisations. Even better the 'bad guys' act for believable reasons of their won rather than just being generically evil for no reason.

The only slight downside is that Gil ends up as a sword wielding fighter. This just doesn't mesh with her prior life at all, hence she shouldn't have anywhere near the muscle mass necessary for such a role. I applaud the author's reversal (understated and simply accepted) of traditional gender roles, but they do usually have some basis in reality, and skipping over this grates somewhat. Also of course being the beginning of a trilogy most of the story is not resolved. This is annoying but at least all the plot points do reach a natural pause. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series! show less

I made the mistake of reading this novel (and this series) after seeing the second Aliens movie (which is my favorite of all the Alien films). When I was younger, I read a lot [a:Stephen King|3389|Stephen King|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1261866457p2/3389.jpg], but only because everyone else at school was reading it and it irritated my mother (or so I thought). After a couple of years on a steady diet of horror, I became bored and nothing was frightening or thrilling any longer.

I picked up [b:The Time of the Dark|357|The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul (Dirk Gently, #2)|Douglas Adams|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266447838s/357.jpg|1096], mostly because it was another story along the lines of [a:Stephen R. show more Donaldson|12980|Stephen R. Donaldson|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1218902799p2/12980.jpg]'s Covenant series. At least the premises was similar: a contemporary person from our world is transported, in some inexplicable way, to a world in a different time and place, where magic is indigenous and a struggle for survival is imminent.

Hambly surprised me with her ability to thrill me, and even at times scare me. I would attribute this to her ability to make me care deeply for her characters. And when they were in danger, I was on the edge of my seat.

Hambly writes the most convincing and inspiring female characters of any author I've read.

May 2011 Update: Reread this (again) and updating my review for Fantasy Literature. show less

Blog post with links at: https://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2014/12/08/the-time-of-the-dark-by-barbara-hambl...

A recent read of [b:Those Who Hunt the Night|176261|Those Who Hunt the Night (James Asher, #1)|Barbara Hambly|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387735262s/176261.jpg|1229981] led me to one of Hambly’s early series, The Time of the Dark. First published in 1982, it has the feel of many of the ‘crossworlds fantasy’ books so popular in that time period ([a:Piers Anthony|8516|Piers Anthony|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1234056775p2/8516.jpg]’s Apprentice Adept series, [a:Terry Brooks|9629|Terry Brooks|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1280785812p2/9629.jpg]’ Landover, [a:Jack L. Chalker|127191|Jack L. show more Chalker|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1207157841p2/127191.jpg]'s Dancing Gods series, [a:Stephen R. Donaldson|12980|Stephen R. Donaldson|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1218902799p2/12980.jpg]’s Thomas Covenant, [a:Guy Gavriel Kay|60177|Guy Gavriel Kay|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1218804723p2/60177.jpg]’s Fionavar Tapestry, [a:Andre Norton|4766|Andre Norton|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1404046606p2/4766.jpg]’s Witch World, to name ones I read). Hambly adds a refreshing touch in her trained historian’s viewpoint, as well as a fresher take on tired female tropes. If you are looking for classic portal fantasy, this is a great place to start.

Gil Patterson, a graduate student in medieval history, is troubled by realistic dreams with a powerful aura of impending doom. In one of the first dreams, a weather-beaten old man seems to see her, and in a subsequent dream, actually talks with her. One night, she wakes up and he is sitting at her kitchen table, and Gil starts to believe. The man, named Ingold, is a warrior and a wizard, able to cross between the two worlds, and is looking for an escape hatch for a special person from the growing terror of the Dark. When Ingold arrives at a safehouse in the California desert he crosses paths with Rudy, an artist trying to repair a broken-down car. Gil and Rudy choose to support Ingold and are drawn farther than they ever imagined.

The writing is vivid and does a nice job of creating the atmosphere of tension and danger. World-building was done well enough that I felt as if I was there. From one of Gil’s early dreams:

“The wind from the house increased, chilling her. She edged her way back toward the dark gate, feeling herself beginning to shiver, her feet icy on the marble pavement. The silence of the place was terrible; even the screaming flight of that first night would have been more welcome. Then she had been in a crowd, though unseen; then she had not been alone. Silent and terrible, the lurker waited on the threshold of that dark house, and she knew that she must flee for her life. She would not be able to waken out of this dream; she knew that she was already awake.”

It was entertaining, and I certainly read through to the end without my normal attention-deficit skimming used in reads that bore or annoy. Mostly, though, plotting feels rather genre standard, with some upgrades. Magical old man full of portents, undiscovered powers in the now-world recruits, uncanny progress adjusting to a new world, political animosity between the lord and his brother, a baby as savior, selfish religious leaders, the ‘Dark’ coming to devour humanity, etc. Hambly avoids the MacGuffin of ‘the journey back to the home world,’ so she deserves kudos there. Plotting was less world-scale than I expected, more of a survivalist focus, and while it doesn’t leave a cliffhanger ending in the personal sense, it is clear that the story is to be continued.

Characters are above average. Although Gil is a loner (of course), she has a great deal of knowledge to draw from, as well as her intuition. Surprisingly, however, she finds her physical skills are the ones in demand, a definite counter to stereotype. Rudy comes from a family-oriented, hard-scrabble background but works as an artist, again a more unusual take on the typical fantasy male stand-in. He’s the one that develops his emotional and intuition, which Gil takes on all new roles for her.

I wish I had found this series when it was first published in 1982; I would have loved it, far more than Brooks or Donaldson, which were filled with misogyny even a teenage girl could recognize. It’s definitely more accessible than Witch World, which was prone to sparse details, and less mythological-based than the Fionavar Tapestry, so it should appeal to readers who prefer more concrete details. Now, decades later, it feels above average for genre, if somewhat uninspired–but I suspect that is more because of my changing reader expectations for fantasy. I’ll be looking for the next book. show less

This is a book I return to, again and again.It is my comfort read: the book I pick up when I am too tired to read something new. That sounds odd given the subject matter, but within moments of picking it up, Hambly's prose is invisible to me and I am trudging down the road with the refugees, blinded by snow, freezing and wondering what's out there in the darkness....I can recommend this book on so many levels. The characters are people you come to know, like friends. Their voices become familiar, their mannerisms comforting. The setting is rich and gritty, you can smell the animal dung, taste the bitter smoke on the breeze and hear the chitter of the dark as they float between the trees. In many ways this is an archetypal fantasy book. show more It contains all the fantasy tropes, the wise mage and his apprentice, the warrior, the princess. Yet each of these is new and fresh, even ten years later. Each develops throughout the book, and the series as a whole, so that by the end we feel we've grown with them. For the writers among you, especially those writing fantasy, this is a lesson in how it's done. The real challenge will be maintaining a critical view without getting lost in the story and waking up four hours later thinking, "where did the time go?"There are so few books I read ten years ago that have stood the test of time. My tastes have changed and my standards have risen. This remains, though, one of my all time favourites. If you've never read fantasy and you want an introduction that will bring the genre sharply into focus and leave you hunting for more, this is a great place to start. show less

Hambly's very first novel, and it shows. The plot: a man and a woman from southern California are transported to another world by a mysterious wizard, and shit hits the fan immediately. Most of the book is spent fighting, fleeing, or freezing, which sounds exciting, but actually becomes boring when unrelieved by contrast. There are too many words for the amount of plot that spools out, yet many elements of the story seem undeveloped and unbelievable -- the biggest being a romance that springs up between two characters that makes not a lick of sense, but gets a LOT of airtime.

The portal fantasy aspect also poses a problem, in that it doesn't seem necessary beyond a bit of wish-fulfillment for Earth-bound readers ("Wow, maybe I too would show more become a superstar by being whisked into another world!") and also inspires the author to write one of the main characters' dialogue in a southern Californian idiot mode that clashes horribly with the way everyone else talks. I kept thinking of Ursula Le Guin's essay "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie".

To top it all off, there's a big world-threatening mystery (the Dark and why it's their "time" again) that gets very little development beyond a few creepy visions and some night-time attacks. The outsider status of the two main characters positions them well to ask questions like, "what the hell ARE these things?" (they do not resemble any Earthly creatures), but no... they don't. Sigh.

I first read this trilogy back in the '80s, and I recall that there is more explanation in the other two books. I may pick them up to at least refresh my memory, but I can't say I'm really drawn in this time. A reread of one of her later books might be a better idea. Some of them are great! show less